7). Case Study: Iraq War Protests
Figure 4: (theguardian.com 2016)
What Happened? The 2003 Iraq War protests were a worldwide demonstration to condemn the United States of America (USA) and its allies against the impending invasion of Iraq. These anti-war protests were some of the largest collective anti-war protests, and in London, "approximately 1 million people marched," which made it the "largest ever demonstration in Britain" (Murray, Robinson, Goddard, 2008, P. 8). The anti-war protests were some of the largest protests seen in the UK, and they paved the way for one of the biggest and arguably one of the most influential UK pressure groups, Stop the War. The protests were started by the belief that the war was unjustified; within the United Kingdom (UK), only "58%" of the population thought the invasion was "right" (Statista Research Department, 2015). This, however, quickly changed, and by 2004, when it had been revealed that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (WMDS), only "43%" of the UK population thought the war was "right," while "49%" stated that it was "wrong" (Statista Research Department, 2015).
7.1). What type of participation occurred?
The main type of participation was conventional protesting, which was organized
to create a "massive flood of protest" to "conquer the streets throughout the
world" (Walgrave, S., & Rucht, D., 2010, P. xiii). These mass protests had the aim
of filling the streets while chanting statements like "Don’t attack Iraq!" and
waving banners in order to show governments and the coalition that the people
do not support the imminent invasion of Iraq (Walgrave, S., & Rucht, D., 2010, p.
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